I'm dumb when it comes to muzzle loaders so I'm wondering what a muzzle loader with a 1:48 twist can shoot, and how many grains of powder is recommended for a .490 round ball or mini ball? Thanks for the help I just don't wanna turn a rifle into a pipe bomb :/
That rifle can use either a round ball or a conical bullet of the minie ball style. A standard hunting load would be 55 grains of FFg behind the conical bullet. Don't worry about it bursting on you so long as it's a modern weapon using modern steel in the barrel and not old Damascus twist steel. The older ones tend to develop severe corrosion in the tube that's hard to see well enough to determine whether it's safe to fire. A modern steel barrel will have been proof tested by the maker. It will be loaded with three times the maximum recommended load and fired. If it withstands the pressure without damage, it is proofed and that fact will be stamped into the metal. I've fired mine with a 150-grain load of FFg, and my shoulder told me that wouldn't be a wise thing to do a second time...
yes you can use both in this gun. as for the load, this would be explained with the user manual you get with the gun.
The 1:48 twist rifling is basically a compromise to allow the use of round balls and conicals. It works pretty well for me, in .50 and .58 caliber, and it was really accurate with round balls in a .54 that I use to use for round balls at that time they were the only projectile legal in my state. You will want to tailor your loads for the different projectiles, but you can get pretty good accuracy with both.
